Baked Stuffed Zucchini

Yes, I know from these last two blog posts it looks like we only eat zucchini.  But, I'm behind in my posts and these were actually made a couple of weeks apart.

Okay, up front I have a confession to make.  I forgot to add the cheese to these bad boys.  But, that said, they were still good!  So, get cookin' with or without the cheese.  I adapted the recipe from here.

First, gut the zucchini.  I used a melon baller and it was surprisingly easy.  I was expecting a hot mess but the raw zucchini held up quite nicely.  After you collect your bowl of zucchini insides, chop it up.

Cook up some crispy bacon and crumble about four slices into the bowl with the zucchini.  Add 1 diced roma tomato, 1/2 finely diced yellow onion, 1 cup reduced fat sour cream and 1 tablespoon of curry powder.  Season with salt and pepper.  Oh yeah, and if you decide to, here is where you'd add the cheese.  Mix everything together and load up into the zucchini shells.

Here they are all loaded and ready to go in the oven.  350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I broiled them on low for the last three minutes to get some good browning going on.

Nice and bubbly right from the oven!

The guest of honor approves!

We had a birthday dinner for Liz with marinated skirt steak and honey mustard roasted potatoes.

Grilled Zucchini with Mozzarella, Lemon and Dill

I am loving BHG recipes lately! They are super simple but give me great ideas for just a little something different.  This dish was a perfect example - couldn't be easier.  Slice zucchini lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and place directly on the grill.

Meanwhile, chop up lemon, fresh mozzarella and fresh dill.

Mix the zucchini and dill and mozzarella together and drizzle with lemon juice.  Then...demolish!

Warm Grilled Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Avocado Dressing

Our weekly salad night is turning out to be one of my favorite dinner nights each week.  The dressing inspiration came from a BHG succotash salad recipe.  I tweaked it so I could make sure my husband would eat it.  Our guest was wild about it and made it just two nights later for her family!

What You'll Need:
3-4 chicken breasts
low fat Italian dressing
salt and pepper
1 avocado
buttermilk
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 ears corn
1-2 heads of butter lettuce
1 cup of blue cheese, crumbled
handful of slivered almonds
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced tomatoes (I used romas)

What You'll Do:

Marinate the chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper in a large ziplock bag with the Italian dressing.  Do this at least overnight if not for two nights.  Grill the chicken.  At the same time, grill the corn.  I pull out the silk but leave the husk on and put the corn right on the grill.  It cooked in the same time the chicken did.

While you have the grill going, set up the salad.  Tear the bib lettuce.  Add in the blue cheese, onion, almonds and tomatoes and set aside.

Make the dressing:
In the blender add the diced avocado, 2 garlic cloves (I diced mine before I tossed them in), buttermilk, dry mustard, onion powder and salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth.

Dress the salad and mix in.

My husband refuses to eat red onions so I had to fix a plate for him separately which is why the dressing isn't mixed in.

In a large bowl for me and my company, I topped everything off with the dressing and then mixed it in (see next pic) and served.

Deelish!

A Bridal Bouquet and Parties from A Printable Press

My sweet friend Emily is getting married.  I am super excited for her.  Last weekend we worked on making her a bouquet.  She's getting married on a flower farm and plans to make her bouquet once she gets there.  Yes, she's amazing like that.  I have to say, our practice one really wowed me:

Emily has also been in search of her wedding invitations and she told me about this great site, A Printable Press.  While they mostly have wedding and baby invites, etc., they are branching out.  Their Holiday section says "coming soon" and I cannot wait!

I adore the party invitations they have, don't you?

Check out their full collection here.

Oh, my, O!

The bad news is that my dogs have ruined a rug in my living room.  The good news is that my husband is insistent that I pick out a new rug stat.  Music to my ears!  I have had the same type of rug in our living room for a while but I've decided it is time to spice things up.  I went to my go-to source for rugs - Overstock.  They have a huge selection and great prices and because I am an O-Rewards member, I get free shipping and money back.  (No, I am not paid to say that - I really like Overstock).

Anyway, I thought I'd seen most of their rugs but lately there were a whole lot of new ones that I am obsessed with!  This is going to be a tough decision.

Here are some of my favorites: